Photo courtesy of PRA.
An astounding pinot noir needs to be made from grapes that are plucked from the vine at precisely the right moment. Timing is everything and, unfortunately, timing the harvest right is also very difficult. Traditionally, wineries have depended upon sugar and acid analysis of grapes to determine whether they are ready but these processes actually say very little about whether the proper delicate mix of aromatic compounds have made their way into the grape yet. This has led a lot of wineries to get things wrong over the years but biochemists Michael Qian and graduate student Fang Yuan at Oregon State University are suggesting that they have a better way forward. Read my full article covering these findings in The Economist here.